Case Number 11659

AVENUE MONTAIGNE

The Charge

"You have to take risks, Jessica. I pushed my way in. And you know,
Jessica, I had a wonderful life."

Opening Statement

Remember Amelie, the modest little French film that took in $173.9
million back in 2001 and made Audrey Tautou (The Da Vinci Code) a
familiar face with American audiences?

French filmmaker Daniele Thompson must remember, because she sent another
cute-as-a-button French woman out into the Paris streets to get involved in
people's lives.

Facts of the Case

As Jessica (Cecile De France, Around The World in 80 Days) wheels her
aging grandma around, the elder woman tells her granddaughter how she got a job
as a chambermaid at the Ritz because she loved luxury. Soon, Jessica is in
Paris, following in her grandmother's footsteps.

She takes a job at the Bar des Theatres, a small bistro frequented by stars
like Alain Delon (he's in Airport '79 but only mentioned in this one) and
ordinary people alike. "We're a microcosm," snooty boss Marcel
(Francois Rollin) tells Jessica. She's also warned about talking too much to the
famous folks who wander in, but soon she's involved in the lives of Catherine
(Valerie Lemercier, Sabrina), an actress on a soapy TV show who's
tackling a stage production and hopes to land a plum movie role; Lefort (Albert
Dupontel, Dead Man's Hand), a concert pianist who's considering a career
change; and Jacques Grumberg (Claude Brasseur, The Seven Deadly Sins), an
art collector who's auctioning off his collection; and Grumberg's son Frederic
(Christopher Thompson, The Count of Monte Cristo).

Everything comes together on one busy night for the bistro and the
neighborhood; Catherine makes her stage debut, Lefort gives a solo performance
that nobody will forget, and the Grumberg collection is auctioned off.

The Evidence

Originally titled Faueteuils d'orchestre (or Orchestra Seats),
Thompson's movie was released stateside earlier this year with a more
picture-postcard friendly moniker: Avenue Montaigne.

If you're creating your own double bills on DVD, Avenue Montaigne is
the ideal B-feature with the Peter Mayle picture postcard, A Good Year.
Both movies celebrate the beauty of France, although Montaigne trades
vineyards and quaint town squares for stunning, sweeping shots of the City of
Lights at night. With so many beautiful city scenes, you'd think Avenue
Montaigne was produced by the Paris tourism folks.

I enjoyed Avenue Montaigne, rarely guffawing at its humor but often
smiling. I also got caught up in the atmosphere of the glittering city and the
French tunes that fill the background. Still, it's a slight movie that's always
predictable. I knew quickly where Jessica would find romance; I was thinking,
"What took you so long?," when she finally kissed him at the 73-minute
mark. Moreover, I could easily figure out where the lives of all her new friends
were headed.

Cecile De France actually looks cuter and sweeter than Audrey Tautou, and
has a wonderfully expressive face. She makes scenes funny and charming, like the
one in which Lefort guides Jessica through a rendition of "Twinkle, Twinkle
Little Star" to show her that she indeed knows something about classical
music (It's Mozart!). It's also hard to resist the charm of seeing her in an
expensive hotel, ordering only a grapefruit juice. De France shows off her
shapely legs with a miniskirt, which was alluring until I realized that she's
almost always wearing the same clothes and I hadn't seen her visit a
laundromat.

Sydney Pollack, who directed Sabrina, appears as moviemaker Brian
Sobinski. This let Daniele Thompson make one English-language scene, in which
Catherine tries to convince him she's the right woman to play Sartre's lover in
a biopic. This was the scene that ended up in the English-language Avenue
Montaigne trailer found on the DVD. It's a funny scene, but were they trying
to hide the fact that it's a subtitled foreign film? The subtitles were
well-done, but I wished they wouldn't have put them right on the movie; there is
a black bar at the top and the bottom, after all.

The cinematography is splendid as it showcases Paris, looking down on the
grand Avenue Montaigne, following Jessica as she window shops, and panning the
city at night. The soundtrack filled with songs that say Paris (except for the
rock 'n' roll ringtone that chimes in at inappropriate times from Catherine's
cell phone) is fully realized in Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround.

There's no commentary, but there's a 25-minute film, "The Making of
Avenue Montaigne," that features Daniele Thompson on the set. The best
parts show Albert Dupontel's training in faking skill at the piano and the
instructions given to the extras in the auction scene.

Since the film ran slightly longer than indicated on the back of the DVD
case, I believe this to be the original French version rather than the slightly
cut American release. I'll also note that there's a lot of profanity in the
subtitles for a sweet little film.

The Rebuttal Witnesses

I said it in my review of A Good Year and it goes double here: There's
more dramatic tension in a segment of Rachael Ray's $40 a Day. If you're
looking for excitement, deep characterization, or much more beyond pretty
pictures and a likable cast, Avenue Montaigne will be unsatisfying. If
you're the sort who's longed to see Rachael run short of funds and dine on
ketchup soup, you could find it excruciating.

Getting to reality checks, Jessica apparently wanders the city at night a
lot without even a hint of danger creeping into the fairytale world of Avenue
Montaigne. She must have the constitution of Jack Bauer as well, since she
rarely seems sleepy.

Closing Statement

If you liked A Good Year, you'll probably like Avenue
Montaigne. With its travelogue take on Paris, it's a nice way to while away
an evening. Even so, it's unlikely you'll find anything compelling about
Jessica's adventures in Paris.

The Verdict

How could you convict a charmer like Cecile De France of anything? Not
guilty.